Failed Pentagon fax machine blocks FOIA requests (Updated)

Please hold all requests until at least October, when OSD might buy a new one.

Update: on September 19, MuckRock received word that the Secretary of Defense's office has a new fax machine installed, and faxes are now flowing freely again. The original text of this story follows.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) will not be faxing any orders to Five Guys or receiving journalists' Freedom Of Information Act requests anytime soon. According to a report from the FOIA request service MuckRock, the OSD's sole fax machine—the only effective electronic conduit for sending FOIA requests to the Pentagon—is down for the count and won't be replaced until October at the earliest. With the threat of a federal government shutdown looming, it may be longer than that.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) also accepts FOIA requests by snail mail, as well as through a web portal. But the web portal is problematic, to say the least—the site seems to be designed to discourage FOIA submissions and makes it impossible for automated requests to be sent. Just getting an account to log into the system can take a while. And even when the FOIA requests get into the hands of the OSD, there's no guarantee of a speedy reply—the OSD had a backlog last year of over 1,000 requests awaiting processing. (DOD as a whole had over 7,000 FOIA requests hung in the queue.)

The failed fax machine is sure to stretch that backlog. In an e-mail, OSD's FOIA section chief told MuckRock:

*IF* our IT department doesn't have a replacement available, then they will have to order another one. If that is the case, it wouldn't be ordered until the start of the new fiscal year (Oct 1). We would hope that it is back up sometime in October, but could extend into November.

Considering DOD's $31.4 billion IT budget, it may be puzzling that the Pentagon is still using a standalone fax machine that prints on paper to handle communication with the outside world. But while much of the world has moved on to computerized fax services, the Pentagon remains a place where paper is an essential part of the process—and even e-mails to some senior officers and civilian officials are routinely printed by their administrative assistants and dropped into their in-baskets. A few years ago, when arranging for an interview with an Army general, I was told by his public affairs officer that my request "has been printed, but I haven't read it yet."

As much as the rest of the world enjoys things in an electronic format, for some government agencies the only truly actionable item is one on paper with a genuine original hand written signature or initials in ink, or paper is needed for someone to stamp or initial with original stamp or original hand written initials, for legal reasons. Emails and things kept in electronic format don't have genuine original hand written signatures or initials or stamp, they have 'representations' in a 'scanned' or 'signed by' or a 'electronically signed' format but they aren't the original hand written signature or initials even though they may be represented or accepted as such. It varies from agency to agency.

As much as the rest of the world enjoys things in an electronic format, for the government the only truly actionable item is one on paper with a genuine signature in ink for some agencies for legal reasons.

Pretty much it which is why I keep a fax machine (not as old as the OSD one) around.

While it sounds hilariously funny, it is important to recognise a combination of historical and current reasons for maintaining such a system. First off, it has been proven to work, and proving a new system might be time and labour intensive. To wit, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Second, and far more important, is the notion of a trail of evidence. While we've advanced far in how much can be computerised and archived, we've also advanced far in how much computerised evidence can quickly and swiftly be disposed of with no way to recover it, or sometimes even prove it was there in the first place. While paper is an imperfect medium to that end, it is, again, something that has been proven to work in the past and lacking a superior (in every aspect) solution, something has to be kept in place. This is doubly important when working with information that is secret/classified/??, because the only safeguard we can have in place is after-the-fact review.

Finally, and underscoring both, is the notion of impetus. Apparently, there isn't much motivation for them to maintain redundancy for these requests, nor complete them in a timely manner. This is as much of a problem as the former two. If the law can be satisfied with a several month long outage, not to mention unspecified delay time to respond, then it's clearly not a priority in the first place, fwiw.

I can understand why they still have and use fax machines, as well as handling paper documents regularly. I won't reiterate what's been said above.

However, it strikes me as organizationally sloppy to not have a budget for replacing failed equipment. Sure, it's just a fax that probably gets used primarily for FOIA requests (which at least theoretically have alternative routes), but stilll...

Again as a former IT government contractor I'm not surprised. When the budget stuff started to hit a few years back we were not only discouraged from keeping a spare of most items but it quickly came to the point where the purchase request would be denied because they were trying to cut every spending corner. People ask why you need a fax machine around and here is the biggest reason on the base I did my work at....Government relies on contractors to get things done. Most of these contractors do not have computer access while at work i.e. mechanics, etc. This is not only a way to cut costs in the contract bid itself but also these people do not need computer access to provide the service they were hired for. So how do they communicate with their HR or corporate entities? Fax. And for those who do need a computer account physical signatures are required at some part in the process which some may be faxed others are overnighted to that contractors corporate HQ.

Considering DOD's $31.4 billion IT budget, it may be puzzling that the Pentagon is still using a standalone fax machine that prints on paper to handle communication with the outside world.

This is actually brilliant. Quite brilliant. They don't want to hand over the FOIA information to beging with so they create a bottle neck with ancient technology. Next, they let the thing fail and claim "no budget till next year." Next year rolls around and they claim sequestration. I'm really interested in what their next excuse will be.

Anyone that's worked DoD will not be surprised by this. Even though (as a contractor) I had DoD certificates on my CAC for total non-repudiation, I still had to snail mail certified signed copies of my POA&Ms to my COTR. Not by their choice either...so annoying.

Again as a former IT government contractor I'm not surprised. When the budget stuff started to hit a few years back we were not only discouraged from keeping a spare of most items but it quickly came to the point where the purchase request would be denied because they were trying to cut every spending corner. People ask why you need a fax machine around and here is the biggest reason on the base I did my work at....Government relies on contractors to get things done. Most of these contractors do not have computer access while at work i.e. mechanics, etc. This is not only a way to cut costs in the contract bid itself but also these people do not need computer access to provide the service they were hired for. So how do they communicate with their HR or corporate entities? Fax. And for those who do need a computer account physical signatures are required at some part in the process which some may be faxed others are overnighted to that contractors corporate HQ.

This pretty much sums it up.

As for "Automatic FOIA" requests being designed out of the web portal perhaps that is the entire point?

Perhaps they needed to have multiple lines for FOIA requests, but perhaps the agency is only spending money on things they require, and multiple fax machine isn't one of those things when one was clearly working.

The inside jab at the government shutting down isn't appreciate, if the government is shut down, nobody will be there it even to process FOIA requests so what does it matter after Sept 29th ( the end of fy13 ).

Considering DOD's $31.4 billion IT budget, it may be puzzling that the Pentagon is still using a standalone fax machine that prints on paper to handle communication with the outside world.

This is actually brilliant. Quite brilliant. They don't want to hand over the FOIA information to beging with so they create a bottle neck with ancient technology. Next, they let the thing fail and claim "no budget till next year." Next year rolls around and they claim sequestration. I'm really interested in what their next excuse will be.

Ya'll know you can send an FOIA request by regular U.S. mail don't you?

There is this thing people seem to have forgotten about, its called the U.S. Mail. You too can witness something mystical to some. If its that important to you, then fill out the request, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and stick it in the mail box. A person will come by and pick up your letter and send it along to the address you put on the envelope, no matter where its going, all for less than a dollar ($0.46 for a first class stamp)

Ya'll know you can send an FOIA request by regular U.S. mail don't you?

There is this thing people seem to have forgotten about, its called the U.S. Mail. You too can witness something mystical to some. If its that important to you, then fill out the request, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and stick it in the mail box. A person will come by and pick up your letter and send it along to the address you put on the envelope, no matter where its going, all for less than a dollar ($0.46 for a first class stamp.

At the end of the day the agency responsible for FOIA did not cause the budget issues or write the rules on purchases at the end of the fiscal year.

Ya'll know you can send an FOIA request by regular U.S. mail don't you?

There is this thing people seem to have forgotten about, its called the U.S. Mail. You too can witness something mystical to some. If its that important to you, then fill out the request, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and stick it in the mail box. A person will come by and pick up your letter and send it along to the address you put on the envelope, no matter where its going, all for less than a dollar ($0.46 for a first class stamp.

At the end of the day the agency responsible for FOIA did not cause the budget issues or write the rules on purchases at the end of the fiscal year.

and... that has what to do with dropping the FOIA request in the mail?

I work in Records for a living and the fax machine is an archaic pointless item. The only people who utilize it are those wishing to maintain the status of 2 decades ago when emailing things and having full tracking capabilities was not an option. Fax machines are notorious for just dying at the most inopportune time (how convenient - and yes, I have diabled mine before as well when I just didn;t feel like taking fax requests) and regardless of restrictions or legacy systems or what have you, having a fax receiver as your main method of receipt for FOIA items is just silly if not sad as well.

If I said our fax was totally disabled and said it might be a month until fixed, we would get hammered by every agency and media outlet wanting documents. That isn't just anecdotal rambling either. I went through it back in 2009. I had to work damn near 80 hours a week taking in requests by any means necessary to offset the fax machine until it was fixed.

As far as US Mail goes, I find that about 1 in 20 pieces of mine goes missing.I'm not sure what the larger rate is of missing items, but I highly doubt every piece of essentially untraceable mail is getting to the final destination when it is FOIA related.

It's nice to see some people who actually understand the reasons for having that fax machine. It's really a testament to the savvy nature of some Ars readers.

On the flip side, some of the ignorant comments ("Anyone want to pitch in and buy them a fax machine, maybe two?") are aggravting. Typical narrowminded thought by people who don' stop to think beyond the obvious. Hurr durr. -_-

I understand full well why.

I also know it's a deliberate 'failure'. I like to be pro-active though (hence why I started both the US Pirate Party, and Pirate Parties International) and felt that since they had budgetary constraints meaning they couldn't buy one, we could, so they can continue to use it for the reason it's there.

edited to add

I should point out that 10 years ago, I used to man 'the' fax machine at nPower in the UK. 90% of the stuff that came in on it, came through my desk, which was mainly complaints sent via the regional 'Energywatch' (now 'Consumer Futures') with a few complaints faxed from the Chairman's office. Sure we could have used email, but no, faxes were how it was done.

If you think that's old technology you should get a look at some of the technology in the depots. As one of my coworkers like to put it, "we DEFINE the trailing edge." The general philosophy is if you can keep it working, you don't waste public money replacing it.

Ya'll know you can send an FOIA request by regular U.S. mail don't you?

There is this thing people seem to have forgotten about, its called the U.S. Mail. You too can witness something mystical to some. If its that important to you, then fill out the request, put it in an envelope, put a stamp on it, and stick it in the mail box. A person will come by and pick up your letter and send it along to the address you put on the envelope, no matter where its going, all for less than a dollar ($0.46 for a first class stamp)

You mean that first sentence in the second paragraph of the article?

Quote:

The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) also accepts FOIA requests by snail mail

How do you know its a deliberate failure, what evidence do you have to support that?

Ok, here is the deal, this is the middle of September, government spending budgets for most things have been cut off and the money pulled back for re-allocation and the accounts are frozen for transactions. So its probably true they don't have the money in their general/supplies budget to purchase a new fax machine right now. This happens every year through the whole government, especially in the DoD. However, 1 October begins the government new fiscal year and their budgets for things like this will once again be unfrozen and have money in them. That's the reason they aren't running out to buy a new one or replace this one right now. Not everything is a conspiracy.

It's nice to see some people who actually understand the reasons for having that fax machine. It's really a testament to the savvy nature of some Ars readers.

On the flip side, some of the ignorant comments ("Anyone want to pitch in and buy them a fax machine, maybe two?") are aggravting. Typical narrowminded thought by people who don' stop to think beyond the obvious. Hurr durr. -_-

There's this thing called "fax server software" that's been around for ages. When I worked as a military contractor, the command I was working at got their faxes through software on an HP-3000 minicomputer, and they were written to WORM optical disks for records archiving. That was in 1992.

There may be a few HP-3000s still running in Crystal City. Maybe the Pentagon can lease one.

Sean Gallagher / Sean is Ars Technica's IT Editor. A former Navy officer, systems administrator, and network systems integrator with 20 years of IT journalism experience, he lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.